The Sun. — London, England, 1836-10-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. On Monday last Sir John Campbell met his con stituents, the electors of Edinburgh, in the Waterloo rooms of that city, in order to render an account of his stewardship. From the disjecta tnembra of his speech preserved in the Edinburgh papers, we have no hesita tion in pronouncing it equally worthy of the Right Hon. Gentleman, and the enlightened audience he was addressing. In his review of the proceedings of last session Sir John did not seek to depreciate the benefits which had been obtained ; but on the other hand, neither did he endeavour to prove to the Con servatives that they had over-estimated the mischief they had wrought through their majorities in the House of Lords. " If the Tories (he said) had not the courage to seize the reins, they were at all events de termined to bring the machine of Government to a dead lock." The Right Hon. Gentleman certainly drew up a very formidable Bill of indictment against the Lords, in his enumeration of the various im portant and necessary measures which they had re jected, for no other reason than that they would prove beneficial to the people. He showed that they had hazarded the peace of Ireland ; and that with regard to England and Scotland, the meanest s pite governed their conduct. The Scotch— thanks to the valour and spirit of their ancestors —are free from those deep-seated maladies which madden our unfortunate brethren of Ireland ; and the two thousand five hundred soldiers stationed in Scot land, are rather kept for parade and show than for the purpose of preserving peace. But though the Lords could not disturb the tranquillity of Scotland, they could not resist the temptation of seizing every oppor tunity that offered for subjecting its people to annoy ance. Thus, for instance, the Lord Advocate brought in a Bill for extending the powers of Sheriffs in cases of small debts—a Bill approved of by the Sheriffs,.by the Law Officers of the Crown in Scot land, and recommended by a special report of the Fa culty of Advocates. But though it passed the Com mons unanimously, the Lords did not even deign to urge one reason for their rejecting the measure. All other measures of law reform in England and Scotland were treated in the same way. But, as Sir John truly observed, it is for the people to deprive the Lords of the pretext, that in acting thus unjustly, in thus treat ing the people with contumely and contempt, they have the people with them—that the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland, like spaniels, love to be kicked. If this were the case, the prospects of the nation would, indeed, be most gloomy ; for public opinion is al:-powerful. The proper mode of undeceiving the Tories is not, as Sir John observed, to resort to the bludgeon and brickbat, but to express opinion in a constitu tional way, at public meetings to petition, and, in case of a dissolution, by the return of an overwhelmin7, majority of liberal representatives. We agree with the Right Honourable Gentleman that public opinion will prevail against Lord Lyndhurst and his associates; but we direr with him as to the means by which that change will he effected. " If a time should come," said Sir John, " which I do not anticipate, that ine.7.- sures approved of by the King and his Ministers, and by a large majority of the representatives of the people and in favour of which the public voice has been de clared--if these measures shall be rejected by one branch of the Legislature, then it will be necessary for us to consider what other measures shall be resorted to. But I do not anticipate such a crisis. My opinion is that the Lords, as judicious and intelligent men, nwst be induced to consider the public opinion as a most important ingredient in deliberating on the expe diency of any public measure ; and that as the Duke of Vv'ellington and Lord Lyndhurst have done on former occasions, they will bend to the public voice— and thus a dangerous crisis will be prevented." I .Ve have no doubt, any more than the Right Hon. Gentleman, that the Duke' of Wellington, Lord Lynd hurst, and all those Lords who have sense enough to be entitled to be left at large, will in all cases yield before matters come to the last extremity. But the judgment and intelligence for which the Right Hon. Clentleman gives them credit, will, we fear, be always exerted in endeavours to injure instead of benefit the people, and to discover the measure of mischief to which the people will patiently submit. The fact can not be disguised that the Lords as a body (whatever individual Peers may have) possess interests opposed to those of the people ; and beneficial measures will never be voluntarily conceded, but must always be ex torted from them. It is said by travellers in the East, that a monkey is so prone to steal, that the peasant who wishes to preserve corn or other food accessible to it, must stand with a stick in his hand in constant readi ness for a blow at the thief. The Lords are some what like the monkeys—the people can only be secured against them by constant exertion—and the moment they slacken, the proneness of the Peer to mischief displays itself. It is hard that the people of these kingdoms should have been subjected to this everlasting necessity of keeping the Peers in order. Might it not be as well, when the im patience of the people has fairly driven them to resort to the measures alluded to by Sir John, to endeavour once for all to obtain a machine which will work without a constant recurrence to the clumsy ex pedient of throwing the whole nation into agitation to overawe the Peers for the time ? However, we can make allowance for the difficulty of the position of the Right Hon. Gentleman. He certainly displayed no impro per eagerness to present the Lords in a more fa vourable position to his constituents than their Lordships are entitled to. When Sir John had closed his address, various questions were put to him, which he answered to the general satisfaction. We are glad to learn from him that he believes Church rates will be abolished in a way that will give satis faction to the Dissenters. The thanks of the meeting were voted by acclamation to Sir John, for the manner in which he had discharged his duties as one of the representatives of the city during the last session, and also to Mr. Abercomby, the other repre sentative, for his long and uniform attention to the bu siness o f th e c ity, and his able and dignified conduct in the chair. It will be observed that there is this marked difference between the Tories and the Refor mers. The former, in their public exhibitions, take care always to pack their audiences, while the Re formers boldly meet their constituents, and challenge the most unsparing inquiry into their conduct.-34 orn ing Chronicle. We had yesterday the good fortune to publish ex clusively, we believe, in a second edition, the highly important speech of the Attorney-General to his con stituents at Edinburgh, on Monday last. At all events, we are not aware that it appeared in the columns of any other Morning Journal. As it was not contained in the whole of our impression, we now give it in an other part of this days paper. The p ract i ce o f t h e representatives of the people rendering an annual ac count of their stewardship, is at once highly neces sary and wholesome. It offers opportunities for the represented and their representatives interchanging their sentiments on all questions o f g reat public im_ portance, and it has the further beneficial effect o f cementing the union between the Members of the House of Commons and those who sent them thither. Sir John Campbell, we are glad to perceive, has given his sanction to this practice by his example. His speech to his constituents on Monday, will be read with much interest. It was bold, straightforward, and manly, as was to be expected from a gentleman of Sir John's cha racter. The Hon. and Learned Member took a rapid review of the events of the last session. This has been done before by at least fifty other Reform Members ; but the Attorney-General's review appears to us to be far the clearest and most comprehensive we have yet seen. We will not follow the Right Honourable Baronet through that review. Our opinions on the various measures brought into Parliament last Session, and of the fate of those measures, have been recorded too often on former occasions to require repetition now. A word or two rather on what the Attorney-General says respecting the course of conduct which the Liberal party ought to pursue in the appr oac hi ng Session. Speaking of the grievances under which the people still labour, Sir John says, " that the first remedy to be attempted, is a general union among all sections of liberal politicians, and an unequivocal expression of public opinion." Nothing can be more desirable than this. Time after time have we enforced on Refor mers the paramount importance of a cordial union. In that union, we are thoroughly persuaded, consists not only the interests of the Reformers, but the salvation of the country itself. But then it is to be hoped that the Ministerial party will propose to the extreme Liberal party such a basis of union as the latter can consistently approve of. The Radicals have already made great sacrifices of their individual opinions for the sake of a general union among Reformers. The advances, indeed, have been al most wholly on their side. Let the more moderate Reformers now meet them, at least, half way. This is only a reasonable request. It is so reasonable that we are sure the Ministerial party will comply with it without a moment's hesitation. We trust that the basis of the union among Reformers, which the At torney-General so strenuously recommends, will be so well defined, and so distinctly understood by both parties, as to exclude all possibility of any future divi sions among them. We press this the more earnestly, because in the event of any future split among the Liberal party, after the union had been formed, that split would be attended with most disastrous, though not ultimately fatal results, to the people. The Tories would regard any future division among the Reformers as a providential interposition on their behalf, and they would not fail to turn it to the best account. The second part of Sir John Campbell's advice to the Re formers of the United Kingdom is, that there be an unequivocal expression of public opinion. The Re formers stand in great need of this counsel. We hold it, indeed, to be more necessary at the present moment than that to unite cordially among themselves against the common foe. The importance of union, indeed, is generally felt by the Liberal party ; and all are pre pared to make every honourable sacrifice to secure it. Their great error has been to keep their opinions too much to themselues. The indignation, mingled with disgust, with which they, night after night, last Session, witnessed the various measures of reform sent up to the House of Lords either butchered or mangled in that House, knew no limits ; but still it was in a great measure confined to their own bosoms. Had the people on that occasion only given the " unequivocal expression" to their opi nions, which Sir John Campbell urges them to do in future, we have not the slightest doubt that such an expression of public opinion would have filled the Peers with a dismay, which would have arrested them in their daring and infatuated career. The Reformers, however, will, we trust, now profit by the lessons of ex perience which last Session afforded them. Let them now meet and pass resolutions in all parts of the coun try, strongly expressive of their opinions of the con duct of the Peers, and of their determination to have, at all hazards, those measures of good government to which they are entitled. There must, in other words, be agitation in England arid Scotland, as well as in Ireland ; and the sooner this agitation begins the bet ter. There is no time to be lost ; the Session of 1837 will arrive before we are aware, if we do not set to work immediately. Let there be but a cordial union among all sections of Reformers, and a bold and an unequivocal expression of their opinions, and there is no hope for the Lords. They will at once shrink from the unequal conflict. and the Reformers will triumph without a struggle.—Morning Advertiser. The consternation and dismay which the progress of Conservatism spreads among the Ministerial ranks is not to be wondered at. The alarm of the Melbourne- O'Connell Government is ludicrously visible in the awkward attempts of the Treasury Journals to con ceal it. Their alternate bullyings and whinings in dicate the fear with which Ministers view that powerful re-action of opinion that will save the threatened Constitution, and sweep them from their places. Even the Irish Agitator himself has been com pelled to confess that the majority of the British people are hostile to the destructive schenies which he—the avowed enemy of the institutions, the religion, and the very name of the " Saxon"—has attempted to force upon the nation, by the instrumentality of a subser vient Government. Dismal as the raven's croak to the ears of Ministers was the startling voice of truth for once uttered by their truth-hating oracle of Derrynane. They had listened to lying predictions, and the spirit by which they were deceived and duped seemed to take a malignant pleasure -in suddenly revealing to them the prospect of political perdition. Every day deepens the gloom of that prospect, while they vainly try to shut their eyes against their fate. The multiplied manifestations of Constitutional feeling which we have had lately to record in the gatherings of various classes of the people round the standard of enlightened Conservatism, in all parts of England, are indeed both the result and the evidence of the disabused understanding of a community whose native good sense cannot long tolerate mischievous quackery, and whose honesty revolts against imposture. The people now see that the specious name of " reform" has been made the covering by political impostors for the most sordid and ruinous ambition that ever sacrificed to selfish objects the interests of a mighty empire. It was to be expected that the higher and more af fluent classes would be the first to come forward and defend the Constitution, in whose security they have so great a stake, against the destructive assailants who hoped to establish the grinding tyranny of their own licentious and rapacious power upon its ruins. But to see the tradesmen and operatives of England form ing themselves into societies for the protection of our menaced institutions—even in cities and towns where it was supposed democratic doctrines had taken the firmest root, and where, certainly, the apostles of evil had taken most pains to disseminate them, is indeed a sight to cheer the eyes and gladden the heart of every real lover of his country—a country the first among the nations, not on account of its territory, its cli mate, its soil, or its natural resources, but because of the moral and political greatness of character which has been created for it by those very institutions which the mock reformers of our day are revening to destroy ! The last, and perhaps the most important, of those constitutional manifestations to which we al lude was that at Liverpool, of which we gave a full report (by express) yesterday. That was, as our rea ders are aware, the Liverpool tradesmen's first anni versary dinner as a Conservative Association. One great good effected by such associations, conducted with the good order, the temperance, and decorum which distinguish Conservative associations is, that they bring into familiar and kindly contact different classes of the people, and thereby tend to break down that exclusiveness which has too long been a reproach to English civilization, and no small injury to the so cial habits and manners of Englishmen. A system of exclusiveness which, in society, none cultivate with so much of the offensive assumption of superiority as the aristocratic Whigs, though to gain political power and its emoluments they are mean enough to succumb to the vilest political adventurers whom they believe to have any popular influence ; and though they are not ashamed to doff the blue and buff uniform of their party, and put on the green livery and shoulder knots of the mendicant Agitator of Ireland. Who does not recol lect the servile assiduity with which they courted poli tical unions to assist them in their ambitious views, and the disdainful ingratitude with which they cast them off when they served their turn ? Who does not recollect the hangings of Reformers at Bristol and Nottingham, and the transportation of unionists at Dorchester? Who does not recollect how the Whigs used when out of office to have themselves trumpeted in the journals devoted to their service, as the " frie n d s o f the people ;" and yet one o f t h e i r first acts of was goodPoawnedrtrwualys h t e o ne d fi e e p e r n i t v i e n t t h h e e p p o e o o r p m le man's all s Magna Charta, whil e • th a t pretending to reform its defects, and to substitute in its place that Malthusian tyranny, which treats poverty as crim e and treads the law of Christian benevolence in the d ust. While, however, we ac knowledge the social, as well as political advantages, which are to be derived from Conservative Associa tions, conducted as they now are, we only think the formation of such societies justified by the peculiar circumstances in which the conduct of a Government, without any fixed principles, and continually worked upon by the democratic " pressure from without," has placed the country. We quite agree with Lord Sandon in the sentiments which he so well expressed upon this subject at the Liverpool meeting He felt, indeed, that it would be desirable if every man could live under the shade of his own fig-tree and gather the fruits of his own vine, without being called so often into public life as the present state of public af fairs obliged them to be. But he believed it was a necessity —nay, more than a necessity— animperious THE SUN, LONDON, FAIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1836. duty to stand forward at the present juncture. He believed that, by the Constitution as it now stood, every man was called upon to come forward on every occasion, and unite himself with those of similar opi nions, and not allow a faction, as he believed it to be, to usurp the name of a majority, owing to the supine ness and tranquillity of those by whom the Constitu tion ought to be defended. They had no secret meet ings—everything was open to the public eye—there was no combination against the law—no rewarding the conspirators against justice—their association was open to the general eye. Theirs was the common and national, and beneficial object of communicating their mutual sentiments, and strengthening each other by the consciousness of the numbers who entertained the same sentiments. With such feelings and such views, he had the greatest satisfaction in seeing such associations rising around him in all directions—in seeing associations not only among the richer and weal thier, but springing up among every class, as they had, he could say with confidence and pride, when he looked before and around him—as they had amongst that particular class which formed the very bone and marrow of society." It is, indeed, as defensive asso ciations, that Conservative societies are not only jus tifiable, but necessary. As such, we trust, they will also be successful in the patriotic and glorious task which they have undertaken—that of saving from de filement, pillage, and destruction the noblest fabric of civil polity that ever human wisdom erected for the protection of a people's liberties.—Morning Herald. More than once we have had occasion to remark that in England the Ministers have not vouchsafed to furnish what the people of France call a compterendu of their doings during the session of Parliament. Mr. Charles Wood's break-down at Halifax we put alto gether out of the question. In Ireland, however, the matter has been different. There Mr. Rice has at tempted to say something about what he and his col leagues have done ; or, to speak more correctly, what they have not done. It is true that, after all, Mr. Rice's speech was as little explanatory as an explana tion could well be—a sort of last chapter of " Rasse las—" " the conclusion, in which nothing was con cluded." Still there was an appearance of giving an account. Appearances, too, have been made in Scot land ; but the pieces represented have been made old stagers, and the performers mere " walking gentlemen," without even the merit that is sometimes attributed to the same class at the regular theatres, of being " ex ceedingly useful actors." The other day we gave all the notice it deserved of one of these performances — that of Sir John Campbell, at Cupar. We have now two similar affairs to refer to ; and of one of these our account must of necessity be short. The excellent Conservative local newspaper, the Kelso Mail, was prevented from having a reporter present at the din ner given on Friday last to Lord Minto at Hawick. In a pecuniary sense this refusal was injudicious ; the feeding fund was thereby deprived of the price of a ticket—four shillings, sterling. But, politically speaking, it was not so foolish ; it put a stop to any espial of the weakness of the land ; it kept secret the fact—as far as that could be done—that the Reformers are at loggerheads among themselves. It is not there fore in our power to say what may have taken place between my Lord Minto and the Reformers of Ha wick : or whether our recent anticipations were rea lized, that the latter would enact the part of " the curious impertinents," touching his Lordship' interfe rence, as a Peer, in the election of a member of the House of Commons. Our readers are left at perfect liberty to imagine what they like upon the subject. They may fancy either that the affair was very grand, on the principle—to use such a quotation as Mr. Gis borne might use—omne ignotum pro magnifico—or they may feel persuaded that the dinner at Hawick was, like the debauch at Halifax, a mere drunken brawl, productive only of such moral as might he found the next morning in bruised bones, aching heads, or sick stomachs. But, even supposing the last to have been the case, we are bound to admit that the same charge will not apply to the other exhibition that has just taken place in Scotland, and of which we have an account in the Edinburgh Advertiser. The meeting in Edinburgh, at which poor Sir John Campbell was first fiddle, was, if we except his own performance, strictly a temperance piece of business. Whatever other slip-slop may have been administered to the worthies of Auld Reekie, not so much as a cup of tea was allowed them. It must have been a very drouthy affair. To sit, for we don't know how long, with no other amusement than to hear the Attorney-General speak from the same brief, which was thumbed till it was greasy during the late Parliamentary session, must have been an infliction on the patience even of people in Scotland. To remark, however cursorily, upon what the Learned Gentleman said, will be almost as great a trial of patience ; yet, as the brief was furnished by the Ministry that pays him, we ought, perhaps, at least to look it over, as giving those views of public matters which his masters, for reasons best known to them selves, have abstained from giving. We may observe, generally, that the speech of Sir John Campbell bears internal marks of having been dictated by what we call the Government. It is at once wordy, weak, and super ficial. . Sir John begins with asserting that the Tories founded their hopes of victory over the Ministers upon two points—the O'Connell and Raphael affair, and the case " Norton against Melbourne," in the Court of Common Pleas. Speaking of the first, Sir John says—" I wish, gentlemen, you had seen their long faces when the report of the Carlow Committee came out, and acquitted Mr. O'Connell, and proved to demonstration that the charge against him was foul and calumnious." Now, tee did happen to see their faces ; and we can safely affirm that we discovered no longitude. Nay, so far was the report considered as an acquittal of Mr. O'Connell, that even his own friends were quite chopfallen when it was read. Even by an in dulgent audience a tragedy of Lord J. Russell's could not have been received with more ominous silence than was the report by which Mr. O'Connell was cleared, indeed, of having still in his possession the money he had extorted from Raphael—but certainly cleared of nothing else. As to the Norton affair, we trust we have too much good taste to imitate Sir John Camp bell, in his reference to it. We think his mention of the matter must have been an interpolation of his own in the instructions he received from the Trea sury. The Attorney-General proceeded to make a succession of attacks on Lord Lyndhurst, as mode rate, as gentlemanly, and as well-founded, as those that have been directed against the Noble Lord by the newspaper to which in former days, if report speak truly, " plain John Campbell" was no unfrequent contributor. These attacks, for aught we know, might have been suitable enough to a newspaper, as some newspapers were then, and are now, conducted ; but they were hardly becoming in a person filling, by good fortune, one of the offices that Lord Lyndhurst had once filled. The Parliamentary resume of Sir John Campbell does not require any extended notice. It abounded with sophistries, an hundred times refuted ; with misrepresentations, an hundred times corrected ; and with assertions, as often satisfactorily contra dicted. We know these are grave charges, and such as require evidence to substantiate them. Of that evidence scarcely a day has passed, during or since the Session of Parliament, in which some portion NtNvVhhaaset n n ew o v t eer g a i ra v e en peea t tl o tliefdo t g he guipn pub ognl l at ic. We really owygeorabneethwinkinst o c h a i n tmh n se o e t see lf caseo f c r e o - u op l d enin g co nfi n the eour denunciations proceedings. lt o would f Sir be John wellca Campbell to mere sophistry or vague assertion. However he may think it politic to suppress the truth, he ought to know that it is never excusable in a gentleman to pro pound a falsehood. Yet something exceedingly like this is to be found in his speech at Edinburgh. He alleges that the Orange Society in Ireland was sup pressed. This was not the fact. The Orange So ciety dissolved itself. Even the garbling of letters, printed in a Parliamentary Report, would not have accomplished such an object, if the Irish Protestants had not voluntarily bowed to the implied desire of their Sovereign. There are two points, indeed, on which there can be no doubt of Sir John Campbell's sin cerity. He does not anticipate the crisis that that has been dreaded in some low societies as likely to arise out of the relations between the two Houses of Parliament. He knows that his masters like their places too well by any mea sures of theirs to tempt such a result. More over he announces his joy that Mr. O'Connell has given his support to Ministers. Who doubts it ? After so many vague generalities it was necessary that some appearance of point should be given to the opinions of the Attorney-General. At the end, there fore, of this burlesque or representative responsibility, certain preconcerted questions were put to the exhi bitor by Mr. Tait, the Radical bookseller, and other persons of the same class. These questions had refe rence to the vote by ballot, the duration of Parliaments, and the payment of church-rates. To the ballot Sir John expressed himself decidedly hostile—at present. Under a new combination of circumstances—an in crease of the " pressure from without," for instance—he would not say that his opinion might not undergo a change. The question as to the duration of Parliaments he answered by a joke ; and what we cannot help think ing rather a bad one : but this maybe our want of judg ment. About church-rates Sir John said little ; and that little was, in so many words, that his Majesty's Mi nisters thought they might think of something on the subject before Parliament should again assemble. Such is the Ministerial manifesto to the Reformers of Scot land, and, as far as we have yet seen, to those of England. There is another quality that we have fre quently felt inclined to attribute to the leaders of these gentry rather than folly. But if we should have been wrong—if they should be satisfied with vulgar per sonality as a proof of judgment—with defeat in the most important measures as evidence of strength— with evasive answers to the plainest questions as marks of sincerity—then we wish them joy of the Ministers whom Sir John Campbell be-praises, and of the At torney-General whom these Ministers have appointed to plead their cause. But, whatever the " Reformers" may think, we have a strong suspicion that the people of Scotland will find nothing in Sir John Campbell's speech, that is likely to make any great change in the state of public opinion, as exhibited in the result of the late registrations throughout that part of the king dom.—Morning Post. In another column is a very clumsy defence of Mr. Spring Rice, whose management of the West Indian Loan, anterior to the supposed indiscretion of the Bank, was the first cause of the dangerous position into which they have been brought. As to the Exchequer bills held by the Bank, it is well known that a great por tion are not optional with them, but arise out of their transactions with the Government. As to those pur chased in the open market by the Bank, we suspect that they are comparatively of very small amount, and as regards them, the relative situation does not differ from that of any private holders. It is the duty of any Minister in the situation of Mr. Spring Rice to see that only such an amount of unfunded debt, and at such a rate of interest, shall be in circula tion as will insure its being at all times marketable at par, or above it. If a fall below par occurs, it is an indication of something wrong, either in the rate or in the amount, which it his duty to remedy as speedily as possible. We do not at all believe, therefore, that the Bank have had an anything to do with the late rise in the rate of interest on Exchequer Bills, but rather that Mr. Spring Rice is wholly indebted to them for having.been able to keep so large an unfunded debt at so very low a rate of interest so long in circulation. The consolatory part of the question to the public is the deadly quarrel which has evidently arisen between the parties, under the influence of which neither of them will have any favour to expect from the other, and this cannot but lead in some shape or other to a good issue. —Times. SPRING RICE v. THE BANK. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. SIR,—So much censure having been passed on the Chan cellor of the Exchequer by the Bank Directors and their friends, for the unprecedentedly dangerous position in which the Bank is now placed, and your columns having been open to such censure, you will, I trust, from a love of fair play, give me an opportunity of saying a few words in behalf of the party so assailed. The question, in fact, so far as 'I mean to moot it, may be disposed of in a nut shell, therefore cannot occupy much of your paper, or of the time of your readers to become masters of it. It is simply this—who is to blame for the present state of affairs ?—which may be described standing thus :—Government have in circulation a large amount of unfunded debt, in the shape of Exchequer Bills, on which they pay a lesser rate of interest than they do on the funded debt. Of these Exchequer-bills, the Bank, in its excessive love of gain, has become the largest holder, issu ing in exchange its own notes, to an extent that has made the currency of the country, what is termed, redundant. The consequence of a redundant currency is an exportation of gold and silver, for, with more of the circulating media than the wants of the country require, it is quite clear that the excess which must find its way elsewhere will be of a description to circulate all over the world,—namely, gold and silver, while Bank-notes will remain with us at home. This being the case, and the Bank finding its bullion gra dually diminishing, it began to feel alarmed at its position, and in perfect good time to change it for one of security, had it set to work in the common straightforward, com mon sense way in which it should have done. But, no ; whether from a greediness of profit, or sheer ignorance, it persisted in its fatal career ; for instead of at once com mencing a quiet and steady sale of Exchequer Bills (of which it held vastly too many), at a period when, from the low rate of interest in the market, and the consequent high premium they bore, sales might have been effected to the extent necessary, without creating the slightest alarm, and whereby they might have silently withdrawn their own notes to the extent that the currency had become redund ant, they preferred having their notes out, and trying the futile experiment of raising the interest of money, as if the difference between 4 and 41- per cent. in the price of money would remedy the evil—that evil being a vast superabund ance of money in the market, and which could in no way be diminished thereby. Although the medicine so admi nistered failed, the Bank directors were not discouraged, but proceed :0 to increase the dose, by raising the rate of interest fro,4i to 5 per cent., thereby frightening almost to death thnublic, which they had assumed as their pa tient, instead' of themselves, who were the only diseased party. By these Operations, which of course alarmed the public, they made money dear, it is true ; but what they ought to have done was to have made money scarce, and that could only have 'been accomplished by selling securities, and withdrawing Bank-notes from circulation. Then money would have 'become dear from its actual scarcity, and the Bank would have been placed in a situation so safe, as to justify its assisting the legitimate mercantile operations of the country, by liberal discounts, if required. In all this clumsily attempted jonglerie the Directors lost sight of another important feature in the case—namely, the large amount of deposits held by them, and that, by proclaiming money to be dear, they were but inducing the public to withdraw their deposits for profitable employment, instead of lying idle in the Bank, and that to pay such off required an additional issue of Bank-notes. In fact, they ought to have known, and always acted on, the principle, that de posits are but their own notes returned to them in trust, and repayable whenever demanded, whether to the increase of their issues, or the diminution of their stock of bullion. These proceedings of the Bank are absolutely necessary t o be known to enable the public to judge between its directors and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, into the conduct of which last gentleman I shall now proceed to inquire. The directors, finding themselves to be in a scrape, from their diminished stock of bullion, the immensity of their liabilities as compared therewith, and the impossibility of better squaring the two, by sales of the latter, from the in terest thereon being so much less than they had made it in the market, they apply to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for assistance, modestly requesting him to raise the interest on Exchequer-bills to such a rate as might enable them to sell to the public the amount they hold, without incurring the loss resulting from the heavy discount, to which, if sold at the low rate they now bear, the Bank would be subjected. To this proposal, it is said, Mr. Rice gave a flat refusal, and on that refusal alone is founded the hue and cry raised by the directors and their friends against him. Now, in the name of common sense, I ask, would that gentleman, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, have been justified in saddling the country with from 200,0001. to 300,000/. a year, or any lesser sum, by raising the interest on Exchequer-bills, merely to save the Bank of England from an infinitely smaller loss, by the sale at a di scoun t o f the quantity they had so avariciously assumed ? The answer must be, No. He may have been to blame, and I admit he was, in having so large an unfunded debt afloat as 29,000,000 1 ., but he is not to blame for the Bank of England having purchased more of it in exchange for their own notes than it was prudent for them to hold. The Bank bought with a view to profit, there fore it ought in fairness to bear the loss incurred by a resale, and well can she bear it out of the enormous gains made from the public. Sell at a price she can, and if that price should be a low one, the loss it may entail can, to say the worst, but go to a diminution of the great profit made by the West India loan, which to clutch, at the expense of the public, led her to get into the scrape. From this view of the case (and I trust it will be held to be a correct one), the Di rectors have no just cause of complaint against the Chancel lor of the Exchequer, any more than they had against the late Lord Liverpool and Mr. Huskisson, who refused their appli cation for a Bank restriction bill during the panic of Decem ber, 1825, and Instead thereof, very properly recommenied them to pay away to their last guinea, and then to stick up a notice on the door of the Bank for their customers to call again in six weeks. But lam not satisfied with merely ex culpating Mr. Rice from all blame as regards his conduct towards the Bank ; I mean to go further, and to show that he and the country have just cause of complaint against the Bank, for by its imprudent conduct the Government has been obliged to raise the interest on such Exchequer Bills as have become due, and will in all probability have to do the same on falling due within the next six months ; otherwise they will be paid into the Exchequer for duties ; and all this from the Directors having bought more than they can conveniently hold, consistently with a due regard to their stock of bullion. That such a sacrifice will be forced on the Government there is, I fear, no doubt ; but it is to be hoped that they will not adopt such till forced, so that the Bank may be taught another lesson of prudence, and fairly shown that the adulterous intercourse which so long existed between her and the Treasury is now and for ever at an end. CIVIS. London, Oct. 19. COURT OF REQUESTS. WESTMINSTER.-Mr. Thomas, an elderly gentleman who looked like one well to do in the world, summoned Mr. Houseman, landlord of the Horse and Groom, in Whit combe-street, for a sovereign, or 205., he did not care which.—(A laugh.) Mr. Houseman gravely assured the plaintiff that he should have neither the one nor the other, for he did not owe him a farthing. Mr. Thomas—That's the question we have come here to try ; and I am sure when the Commissioners hear my statement they will soon order you to do me justice. May it please you, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, on Wednesday night I walked into this here gentleman's, and I asked him would he oblige me with _change for a 5/. note ? He said, " By all means," and immediately counted out five sove reigns. For fear of accident, I immediately walked away with the money, and when I reached home I put the money into a bit of brown paper, which I put into a box of pills, which I put into a tin case, which I put into an iron box a foot long, four inches deep, and two inches wide.—(A laugh.) You needn't laugh, gentlemen ;—these facts, I submit, are too interesting to be laughed at. Well, where was I ? Oh ! the iron box. Well, gentlemen, I locked the iron box with this key here, and then I locked that up in my oaken chest, and then I locked my bed-room door upon that, and then I locked the sitting-room door, and the kitchen-door, and the hall-door—all under lock and key, gentlemen, as I hope to be saved ; and I defy any man to have laid a finger on my money. There it lay for three days, and on the morning of the fourth I wanted a sove reign, so I unlocked all the boxes, and this here individual presented itself. Here the plaintiff, overcome by his feelings, pulled out what appeared to be a pewter fac-simile of a sovereign, so clumsily and so barbarously executed, that no one could think of its being locked up for gold without laughing. He then implored the Commissioners to step forward and order Mr. Houseman to give him a gold sovereign instead of the pewter one, which he had given him on the memorable night when he changed his Si. note. The COMMISSIONERS said they must first hear Mr. Houseman. Mr. Houseman said that the plaintiff, with all his parti cularity, had but a very confused recollection of what oc curred. In the first place, it was on a Monday, not a Wed nesday night, that he called for the change, and that there was exactly five sovereigns in the till, which he had just examined, and found unimpeachable. Mr. Thomas must therefore have re-exchanged his money before he locked it up. _ _ The CommisstoNEas, after some deliberation, came to the same opinion ; and Mr. Thomas walked out, leaving the spurious sovereign behind, and sincerely determined never more to classify pewter in the same box with the pre cious metal. COURT OF REQUESTS. KINGSGATE-STREET, OCT. 20.—As a vast majority of the readers of the Newspapers are, from their station in life, ignorant of the " whereabout," and external and in ternal appearance of the Court of Requests, a short de scription of the scene, as it appeared yesterday morning, may not be unacceptable. Half-way down Kingsgate street, then, immediately opposite a gin-shop of the old school, stands this terror of the many, a low whitewashed building—the entrance is by a pair of remarkably greasy folding doors, and pushing them aside any Monday or Thursday morning, the stranger will find himself among a motley group of suitors and defendants, of appellants and respondents, to the number of some 200 or 300, from all parts of Middlesex. The plaintiffs are generally restlessly lounging about, sleek and confident in their looks, while the majority of the defendants are miserable-looking women, with children in their arms, and whose beseeching and care worn looks tell a mournful tale of that vast extent of po verty which may be said to run under ground. The presiding genius of the first Court is Mr. Sergeant Heath. This Court (!) is in front of the building, and a more abominable hole, in its approaches and its appearance, for the administra tion of justice, London cannot produce. The Learned Sergeant sits at the end of a large ironing board, on tres sels, in a room about 10 feet by 7 ; in one corner of the room there is a little ironing stove, and in a space about the size of an egg chest, three individuals sit as a Jury ; and when no case is on to demand their attention, they can amuse themselves by counting the iron bars before the win dows, or peep through them and watch the motions of the little old woman who lodges in the barber's shop opposite. Such is Mr. Sergeant Heath's tribunal. Mr. Commissioner Dubois is far better accommodated ; the inner Court is literally and absolutely a large glass case, three sides of it being composed of upwards of 200 squares of glass. Mr. Dubois is !supplied with a writing desk, and there is plenty of accommodation for the public. Taking the building al together, its two Courts, lobbies, and antechamber, it is a perfect ruin ; and considering the importance of the busi ness transacted there, ought to be pulled down and rebuilt. So much for the building —now for the business. Among the numerous singular cases disposed of yesterday before Mr. Commissioner DUBOIS, a very remarkable one occurred in the squabble between Miss Popaway and Mrs. Hunt. This was the third time of the parties appearing there, after having paid a visit to Mr. LAING, at Hatton garden. From the statement first made by Miss Popaway (who is every bit as fiery as her name implies), it appears that she went to board and lodge with Mrs. Hunt, of No. 2, Cloudsley-terrace, at the rate of 401. per annum, Miss Popaway stipulating for the use of the sitting rooms. Miss Popa wa y h a d no t b een th ere man y d a y s before she evinced symptoms of insanity—walking in her sleep, and throwing herself into most extravagant fits of passion. In one of these latter storms of temper, she happened at din ner-time to tell Mrs. Hunt that her meat was bad, and not fit to be eaten, whereupon a terrible set-to took place, and Mrs. Hunt being the best man, and also assisted by her servant, Miss Popaway was hove upon her beam ends, her hands and legs tied together, and she was handed over to the tender care of Policeman No. 128 (N). The case was not pressed at the station house, on condition of Miss Pop away not returning to her lodgings. Mrs. Hunt, however, demanded payment of a whole month's rent, and, on Miss Popaway's refusal to pay it, she detained her private pro perty. Miss Popaway, therefore, put a value on the said property, 11. 18s., and summoned Mrs. Hunt before Mr. Dubois. Mrs. Hunt, who seemed to think with Demosthenes, that everything lay in action, put herself into a variety of atti tudes, and declared the statement made by Miss Popaway was entirely false. After considerable altercation, counter swearing, and ludicrous charges regarding each other's pri vate affairs, the Learned Commissioner, with the concur rence of the Jury, decided that Mrs. Hunt should give up the property immediately to Miss Popaway, or pay the 11. 18s. with all costs. Mr. Dubois observed that the con duct of the defendant towards the plaintiff (who, to say the least of it, was of imbecile mind) had been most indecent and unfeeling. The defendant, spreading abroad her long arms, looked unutterable things at the worthy Commissioner, and sailed out of the Court. A REGULAR FAGGOT.—Richard Morris, a thick-set squabby looking youth of about the quiet age of 45, was summoned at the instance of Zachariah Small, for the sum of ls., due to the said Small, for 31bs. of beef sausages. To prove the delivery, a person nick-named " Nobby Tom," a journeyman sausage-maker, was called. He ad dressed the Court as follows : My Lord—Ever since Burke was hung at the Old Bailey hiv bin a sassage maker, but I newer seed sich a sarsey warmint as this ear Master Morris not in all my born days.—(Laughter.) He comes into our shop last Bartlemy fair time, and he ses t o Mr. Small, ses he, your sassages looks unkimmon fine, and as I feels werry sickly and karnt eat nothink, I'll jist take three pound on em, and come and pay in the mawning—so with that, master he weighs em, and I perseeded to make the gravy for the fag gots.—(Laughter.) COMMISSIONER—Faggots 1 Pray what are they, .Mr. Nobby Tom ? Witness—D'ye mean wot hingredients their made on ? Cos if I was to tell that, the trade might take adwantage on it. COMMISSIONER—NO, no. Just oblige me with an out line of the composition of a faggot, as you call it. Witness—Well th e n, the re ' s pigs innerds, ship's lights, and henny thing we can get hold on, and we chops and mashes the whole lot on it hup t oge ther. One of my fistes full makes a faggit ; we gest kivers em with a bit of skin, and so sends em to be baked, and then we biles down a bit of odd meat with a hingon or so, and makes a gravy there's a good deal a heart (art) in it, I can tell yer.— (Laughter.) COMMISSIONER—No doubt of it—proceed. les Witness—Well, as I was going to tell yer, Morris come back agin to hour shop, and he slaps down the sassages half ror (raw), and said as how he couldn't eat ,acause they'd all busted.—(Laughter.) Arter a good deal of As houdashus language we never seed no more o f him. to the sassages there's nobody carnt make n o better.-- (Considerable laughter.) COMMISSIONER—What have you to say , defendan t? The defendant was in such a glorious state of uncertain.ty, through " washing his neck" so often during th e morning, that he could only hiccup out, " That's a lie , " a nd conse 'em quently the award was made against him. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. 1 HATTON-GARDEN. John Dykes, a bargeman, was re-examined, charged on suspicion of having murdered a man named Thomas Lee. On Monday night last the prisoner returned to a barge in which he was employed, in the Regent's Cane!, and in the course of the night he awoke his employer and his wife, and complained that he was very unhappy, and on being questioned, he said that a man who had accompanied hie' on board the barge had fallen into the water about a n hour before. The body was not dragged for until the following morning, when it was taken out of the water. A Coro ner's Inquest sat upon the body on Thursday, but it was adjourned for the attendance of the owner of the barge, who could give essential evidence, he being in the coun try. The prisoner was again remanded. W ORSHIP- STREET. A. man named Joe Hill, bordering upon seventy yea rs of age, was placed at the bar before Mr. TWYFORD, oa a charge of being found near a dwelling-house under sus ' picious circumstances. N 68, having related the case, ay? Mr. TWYFORD asked the prisoner what he had to s ay? Prisoner (placing himself in a very independent attitude)-- What I say is, that that fellow has told nothing but lies' It's all false that he says, and he knows it. Mr. TWYFORD—What do you know of his character? N 68—That he associates with the worst of characters. ? Mr. Heritage (the clerk)—Was he ever in custod/ N 68—I never knew that he was. Mr. TWYFORD—How do you get your Eying soner—By hawking, your Worship, and I have done 0e for the last forty years. Mr. Bedford knows that I work hard to get an honest livelihood. Inspector Bedford said that he was a l wa y s suspect ed ' He thieves in a low way. c l e ver Mr. TWYFORD remarked that h e mus t b e a very de fellow indeed to have been suspected for forty years, an never once to have been tried. Prisoner--I can bring most res p ec t a bl e witnesses as to my character. Mr. TWYFORD said if he could bring one respectable Pe r ' son, he would discharge him. Christie, the assistant overseer of Bethnal Green, vi be happened to be present, called his attention to some person: The prisoner (in allusion t o one ) o b serve d, Ah ha i s id good man ; he has lent me 101. many a time, and he Wan not have done that if I had not a good character." Mr. TWYFORD, under the circumstances, would discharg e him ; but his attack on the police was quite unjustifiable' The prisoner was discharged. UNION-HALL. Yesterday John Dobbs, a dwarf, was charged with being drunk and disorderly in the streets on the preceding nig ht ' The dwarf was observed crawling on all-fours in Blackmu n .: street, and every n ow an d th en t um bli ng over, h e beinf.l" such a state from the effects of intoxication as to render 0 1 completely unable to k ee p a p roper equ ilib r i um , a lthong his height does not e x cee d t wo f ee t an d a h a lt' . As it V iILS considered that he r an th e r i sque o f b e i ng tramp l e d upon,.:; policeman went up fo r th e p urpose o f ta ki ng hi m u p arms to carry him to the s t a ti on -h ouse ; b ut t hi s ac t o f on' a nest was resisted by the dw ar f, w h o sa id th at h e was as olb, as any other man, and exp resse d hi s d eterm i nat i on o f n ot so _ miffing to such a degradation as t o b e pu bli c l y carr i e d. like; child through the streets. Th e p o li ceman , unw illi n g to pu t the little man to any personal inconvenience, desired him tc t l i get upon his feet, to take hold of the skirts of his coat, 0 ° that by that means he w ou ld h e lp hi m a l ong , as h e wa s quit e incapable of proceeding by hi mse lf. Th e d war f, howeve' , ;. rejected this mode of con ve y ance , an d b egan to sw ear that no dozen policemen should r emove hi m w hil e h e h a d 510 and foot to resist their efforts. " Oh," said the policeoll "my little man, if you are so rumbustious as all that,. b. must insist upon your comin g a l ong , an d if you d on 't by fa . , means you must by foul ;" " with that," said the poli atoll; I caught him up in my arms, and on bringing hill) al e he kicked, an d scra t c h e d, an d hi t an d , i n f act, made tb, most vigorous atte m pt s t o ge t away ;" an d ma d e a distur b ante by bawling out and calling upon the passengers to r e, ' cue him from the " raw l o b ster ," as h e termed the P man. At length h e was sa f e l y d epos i te d i n the istao' house, and, being put behind, snored away till m oral when he got sob er , an d on awa ki ng h e expressed his suuo prise how h e came th ere, an d h a d utter l y forgotten a ll t" had occurred on the preceding night. The Magistrate, on seeing the dwarf, said th a t this s ° for not the first ti me th at h e h a d b een b roug h t to t h at o ffice to drunkenness, and asked him what he had to say in answ er the charge? so The dwarf shook his head, and was sorry to have soon had the pleasu re o f b e i ng i n t ro d uce d to the Prel e oo l of his Worship, but if he was released now be would offend in future. eer' The Magistrate said that the policeman had onlYj io i formed an ac t o f ki n d ness i n rescu i ng t h e d war f f r om " e t be trampled upon or ru n over by some ve hi c l e a t a time ti ;ra id was quite incapable of takin g care o f hi mse lf. lam o f (added the Magist ra t e ) th a t y ou are a con fi rme d drunk° r ()i t The policeman said that th e d war f was one of the Ol eo drunken little men on that side of the water, and be gave a great deal of trouble ; for although he was s° nutive in point of stature yet he was of powerful strenaot and always exerted it when he was drunk, which 'O s unfrequently the case. rna l ‘ The dwarf said that it was not his fault for getting A - it was the fault of his friends, who were not content wit; t he ting him wet one eye, but would also make him we t t to othr, and the consequence was that he was often J e make the best of his way home. cod" The Magistrate said that they could not be his f ri o those whom he described who prevailed upon hint to " both eyes."—( Laughter.) Dwarf—But what is a poor littl e f e ll o w like me to do (be is 40 years old) when he is off ere d pl en ty o f Old Tom ' 6Oll, MAGISTRATE-Why, you ought to resist the temPt a ost and not allow your friends to m a k e you so d run k. -17 ° 11 find bail now. • tra te The dwarf begged ha r d t o ge t o ff, b u t the Nfail s b iab said that it was necessary to place some restriction 111/ 12 n '4 , as, by his own ad m i ss i on , h e was so f on d o f " Old 17° _ - BIRTHS. A 11, P g.' In Albion-street, Hyde Park, th e l a dy o f Percival 13e- vve e O f of a daughter. p a rk, t h _ On the 18th inst., at Cornwall-terrace, Regent's 4 of W. Paynter, Esq., of a son. a the i , 94i/ On the 18th inst., at Pennsbu r y, Wandsworth - ru a , CIO W. S. Wilson of a daughter. °W el )! n the 18th inst., at Kensington, Mrs. Charles IlaY , t he la On the 18th inst., in Orchard-street, Portman sq uare ' of Lieut.-Colonel r les of a son. On the 27th ult., Si at Char Sorrento D , theance, L a dy Elizabeth C P5b° 1 .... ,,,' °f ° daughter. -------------------- 14ARRIED. E gli ,J ll l On the 19th inst., at the Chapel in the Tower, Wil li l - 1 % 0 Esq., Denmark-hil, Camberwell, to Juliana, wid° w. -- Pal Mills, Esq. Ellis her On the 19th inst., at St. Mary's, Islington, the Rey . dau g Hams, Rector of Pinxey, Derbyshire, to Ann, youngest of G. Powell, Esq., of Islington ' i v• g htire e t: On the 19th inst ,at St. Luke's, Finsbury ''', e ''''-' eldest son of B. J. T. Nightingale, Esq., of '.Artillery-Pa_c Pock' to Elizabeth, only surviving daughter of the late J. Colons", of Newington, Surrey. w hit' On the 12th inst., at Winwick, the Rev. Charles TheTe° ;40' Reader in o t he ley, Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and tural Philosophy in the University of Durham, to s Fr A l i c t e ol; ily youngest daughter of the late John Whitley, Esq', of -9 I the-Willows. -0 01°Ije of rf eot the I the ate l x 3t d h in 0 i i tr n sa s r t . Sir saiarti Charlesß oulso d n ,r , ; P iae e r m i:i. b no r n o c k m e . s ß h a r i. i , r aeo,f eldestLci e o u t tr t . 1 , , 70 b lir 0 1 .. • morganshire. v F. S il°4 ' DIED. On the 7th inst., in child-bed Theresa, wife of Sir I , * ~, , Bart., of Stobbs and Wells. age s 7' ;Vary, t w h i e dow l7t o h f C in a s p t t . a , in at D E . a p st . DAdudlwisiocnh., Peckham- l e ' o f FA" Itra r• Fio O sb n u t r h y e , a l g Bt e l d i l in o s . t., Ellen, only daughter of J. Norbort:to On the 19th inst., at Herne-hill, Surrey, John, eldeo 0 Pi g° ' John Jones, of Cheapside, aged 38. uths On the 10th inst., at Stoke Fleming, near Dartrao J. D. Andrews, Esq., aged 59. f 10 , ......—.------.....-----...—.000.r " 01 vpIG, e o atl London: Printed and Publish ed b y MURDO IN: ! the c ° 112 Strand, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Sires of Middlesex.—Friday, October 21, 1536. MR. WASH INGTON I RVING ' S N E W lAr e-, or , We are requested to state that " Astoria," the tievi lt b' by the author o f " Th e Sk e t c h B oo k," was publish eu to for day by Mr. Bentley, New Burlington-street. Age ° • for Scotland, Messrs. Bell and Bradfute, Edi n burgh' .;04 Ireland, Mr. Joh n C umm i ng , D u bli n • and may be obt "" of all booksellers throughout th e uiteCjlLlg(l2 ll . I TII SETS OF PLATED DISH COVERS, 0010 STRONG SILVER EDGES, may be selected from ofj or kini Patterns, price 201. the Set, at T. COX SAVORY'S, 11 o1 doli• Goldsmith, Silversmith, and Watchmaker, 47, C or nhidl,,lls, 69 The Set consists of one cover 20 inches diameter, on e r i o t 0 ' 14, and 12 inches. N.B. The SHOW-ROOM contains a large variety. of Silver-edged Plated Goods. A Pamphlet given grati at 5 , ,,7 1 - Goo° H of Prices of Silver Spoons and Forks, Silver Plate, Watches, Clocks, &c. Pl